Israeli forces detain 8 Palestinians in overnight West Bank raids

Feb. 16, 2017 5:18 P.M. (Updated: Feb. 16, 2017 5:32 P.M.)

(File)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained at least eight Palestinians during overnight detention raids across the occupied West Bank Thursday and closed a workshop allegedly used for manufacturing weapons, according to Israeli and Palestinian sources.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement that Israeli forces detained two Palestinians from the northern occupied West Bank district of Tulkarem after raiding their homes.

The two were identified as 26 year-old Murad Munir Mahdawi from Tulkarem city and 36-year-old Muhannad Salim Ismail Abd al-Rizq from the village of Shufa southeast of Tulkarem.

Speaking to Ma’an, an Israeli army spokesperson mentioned no detentions in the Tulkarem district, but cited six detentions in other areas of the occupied West Bank, listing three from the Qalqiliya-area village of Azzun, one from the Nablus-area village of Beita, and two from the Jerusalem-area village of Abu Dis.

Local Palestinian sources in Azzun identified one of the detainees as Yahya Hamza.

Separately, the Israeli military said in statement that Israeli forces closed an alleged weapons workshop and confiscated tools in the town of Beit Liqiya southwest of Ramallah in the central West Bank.

Israeli forces carry out detention raids across the occupied territory on a near-daily basis, with the UN recording an average of 95 weekly raids in the West Bank in 2016, and 100 weekly raids on average thus far in 2017.

According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, a total of 6,500 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of January, including 300 minors. The group estimates some 40 percent of the male Palestinian population has been incarcerated by Israeli at some point in their lives.